iervation Resources 
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HAND BOOK SERIES 



AROUND 

SAN FRANCISCO 
BAY 



THE CALIFORNIA PROMOTION COMMITTEE 

THE STATE CENTRAL ORGANIZATION 

CALIFORNIA BUILDING. UNION SQUARE 

SAN FRANCISCO 

1908 



CALIFORNIA PROMOTION COMMITTEE^ 

(ORGANIZED 1902) 

"PROMOTION: The act of promoting, 
'fdvcm cement, encouragement ^ — Century 
Dictionary. 

The California Promotion Committee 
has for its object tYiQ j^i'omoting of Cah- 
fornia as a whole. 

It has nothing to sell. 

Its energies are devoted to fostering 
all things that have the advancemtnt of 
California as their object. 

It gives reliable information on every 
subject connected with the industries of 
California. 

It gives encouragement to the estab- 
lishment of new industries and invites 
desirable immigration. 

It is not an Employment Agency, 
although it gives information regarding 
labor conditions. 

It presents the opportunities and needs 
in all fields of business and professional 
activity. 

The Committee is supported b^^ popu- 
lar subscription, and n^akes no charge 
for any service rend^Fefl. 

Affiliated with the.Ctftnmittee are two 
hundred commercial organizations of the 
State, with a membership of over thirty 
thousand. 

Meetings are held semi-annually in 
different parts of California where mat- 
ters of State interest are discussed. 

Headquarters of the Committee are 
maintained in San Francisco in Califor- 
nia Building, Union Square. 

Correspondence Invited. 

No. fW-C.M.-F.N.:X.X.-S-20 07. 



HANDBOOK SERIES 



AROUND SAN FRANCISCO BAY. 

SAN Francisco Bay, in its infinite va- 
riety of picturesque magnificence, 
compels the admiration of all be- 
holders. In addition to impressing the 
mind with its prime importance as the 
greatest harbor in the world, it delights 
the senses and moves the imagination by 
scenic charms, unmatched by those of 
any other body of water. Kaleidoscopic 
in its natural features of scenic beauty, 
it yields fresh delight with each passing 
moment, always changing yet ever con- 
stant in the dominant outlines of shore 
and wave, of mountain and mesa, its 
margin enriched with cities and thriving 
towns crowding close upon fertile field 
and fruitful orchard. 

From every viewpoint on the shores 
of this great bay new scenes are pre- 
sented. Standing on the crest of Tele- 
graph Hill, in San Francisco, one has 
the narrow entrance of the Golden Gate 
almost at his feet, the fortified hills on 
either side, and the terraces of Alcatraz 
Island, frowning upon passing ships. It 
is said that in early days this island was 
given to an easy-going inhabitant in con- 
sideration of his promise to keep a signal 
lantern burning at night during stormy 



weather. He permitted the light to go 
out, and the government resumed title 
to an island whose strategic position is 
such that it now bristles with cannon 
which in the event of war would be 
called upon to deliver the coup de grace 
to any hostile craft strong enough to 
run the gauntlet of the gate. What 
these fortifications mean is shown in the 
remark made by General Funston, com- 
manding the Department of California, 
when the United States battleship fleet 
sailed through the Golden Gate. His 
significant utterance was, "We could 
have stopped every one of them." 

Abreast of Alcatraz is the Presidio, 
the Federal military reservation w^here 
the main garrison of this department is 
maintained, and where troops enroute 
to and from the Philippines are received 
and despatched. This Presidio has been 
used for military purposes ever since the 
earliest Spanish occupation of the penin- 
sula of San Francisco. 



THE CITrS FRONT 

Beneath the cliff of Telegraph Hill, and 
sweeping southward, are the docks of 
the city, the continuity of commercial 
traffic with seagoing vessels being inter- 
rupted at Market Street, where the 
Ferry Building, a spacious structure of 
gray California sandstone, with spire-like 
tower, with a clock twenty-three and a 
half feet in diameter, affords debarkation 



point for over a hundred thousand peo- 
ple every day between the metropolis 
and the cities and towns across the 
bay. On to the southward, with a 
sharp dip to the west, the indentations 
of the shore line mark the outline of the 
.peninsula, and then rounding again to 
the south, as far as eye can reach, the 
bay extends its placid waters toward 
the rich fields and orchards of a most 
favored region, passing along the shores 
of San ]\Iateo and Santa Clara counties 
until the trend is again northward. 

BUSY OAKLAND 

Here the low marsh land of Alameda 
County, where thousands of tons of salt 
are manufactured every year, spreads 
away toward the frowning slopes of 
Mount Diablo and its range of hills. 
Following on up to the northwestward 
the shore line passes along the Alameda 
County shore, past the island on which 
is situated the thriving home city of 
Alameda, then swerving into the estu- 
ary where Oakland's harbor lies, with 
its many ships lying safe from stress of 
storm, then on past Oakland's water 
front, with the long, finger-like moles 
of the two great ferry systems reaching 
out into the waters of the bay. Berke- 
ley, with its great university and its 
beautiful homes, slopes back from the 
shore to the heights above, forming the 
completion of the chain of cities on the 
eastern shore. 



Contra Costa County comes down and 
bids for notice with its numerous smoke- 
stacks of manufacturing plants, and the 
bay line passes on to the turning point 
into Carquinez Straits and through there 
to Suisun Bay and the mouth of the 
Sacramento River, where Sacramento 
County touches the salt water as it 
mingles with the fresh of the mountains. 
Solano County has its shore line on the I 
northern end of the bay, and then Napa 
sends down a little corner where Napa 
River empties its waters into the chan- 
nel just above the great navy yard at 
Mare Island. 

Sonoma County's marsh land borders ^ 
the northwestern portion of the Bay, j 
giving egress to Petaluma River, whose i 
traffic is 175,000 tons of merchandise ! 
annually, valued at nearly $5,000,000. | 
Then the Marin shore appears, show- ' 
ing first the low lands of the marshes, \ 
and then the grim walls of San Quentin | 
prison. Lying close at hand. Angel 1 
Island hugs the main land of the north- ' 
ern peninsula so closely that it is only j 
by actual circumnavigation that its en- : 
tity as an island can be determined. The ■ 
undulating sky line of the Marin hills, 
topped by majestic Mount Tamalpais, i 
2,600 feet above the waters of the bay, ' 
forms background for this entrancing ] 
picture, and is the fitting end of the j 
thousand-mile shore line that sweeps out ' 
again through the Golden Gate, forming i 
an inland coast but a few miles shorter ' 



than that of the entire State of Califor- 
nia. California's coast line from north 
to south is twelve hundred miles, while 
that of San Francisco Bay, with its in- 
dentations, is more than one thousand 
miles. 

GOVERNMENl POSSESSIONS 

In the immediate center of this great 
bay, as viewed from San Francisco, lies 
Yerba Buena Island, its most prominent 
facade facing the ocean, while within a 
sheltered cove, facing the Alameda 
County shore, is ensconced the Naval 
Training Station at which young men 
are prepared for service on the nation's 
w^arships. 

Situated in a cove on the northeast 
corner of Angel Island, near the Marin 
shore, and occupying about ten acres of 
ground, is the Immigration Station of 
the Department of Commerce and Labor. 
A general office building, containing 
kitchens, dining rooms, and all the 
modern conveniences, has been con- 
structed to accommodate a thousand 
people, and in connection with it is a 
modern hospital. The station is also 
equipped with a power house for pump- 
ing salt and fresh water, generating elec- 
tricity and running the steam laundry, 
etc. The value of the wharf, leading out 
to twenty-five feet of water at low tide, 
and buildings, which are nearly com- 
plete, is $200,000, and in addition Con- 
gress has allowed $90,000 for officers' 



quarters, artesian water supply, gardens, i 
roads, walls, fences, fire-fighting machin- | 
ery, etc., and $125,000 for building two \ 
vessels, one for ferry service and the I 
other as an auxiliary boat for the board- 
ing officers in meeting incoming vessels. ] 
In establishing the station, advantage j 
has been taken of the defects found at | 
Ellis Island and other stations to elimi- ! 
nate and avoid them. 

VIEW FROM TAMALPAIS \\ 

It is only when viewed from some 
such eminence as Mount Tamalpais that 
the immense size of the harbor is 
brought out most emphatically. Then 
is it realized what is meant by the oft- 
repeated assertion that within the shel- i 
tering arms of this land-locked haven i 
all the navies of the world can swing ; 
at anchor at one time, without crowding ; 
and with plenty of space to spare for the 
free and unhampered movements of the j 
merchant marine. San Francisco Bay, 
with its two hundred and fifty square 
miles of navigable water, and with a 
width varying from seven to twelve 
miles, is the pride of the whole country, 
neither San Francisco nor California 
claiming a monopoly of the national 
greatness that grows out of its greatness. 
The upper reaches of the bay are divided 
into two inner bays — San Pablo and Sui- 
sun — that of themselves are marvels of 
depth and convenience in the matter of 
landing facilities and anchorage for ves- 
sels of every description. 



So little has been done on the Pacific 
Coast of the United States for the im- 
provement of its rivers and harbors that 
the inhabitants of this v^esternmost re- 
gion feel justified in their pride in this 
great harbor, where Nature has been so 
lavish with her gifts. Human effort has 
had little to do with making this harbor, 
for San Francisco has expended for 
permanent improvements of the harbor 
but a small amount, some $4,000,000, 
while Liverpool has expended $200,000,- 
000; Bremen, $55,000,000; Glasgow, $74,- 
000,000; Manchester, $75,000,000; Japan, 
$50,000,000, while in our own country, 
in addition to the millions that have 
been expended in New York, there is 
now in contemplation the expenditure of 
J $75,000,000 more to make additional 
1 dockage at one point on Long Island. 
'-. Expensive dredging processes required 
* in so many other harbors are practically 
^ unknown here, except in the deepening 
^ of the harbor on the Oakland side, and 
I every dollar expended in improving San 
^ Francisco's harbor goes into actual dock- 
age and warehouse room. 

WHERE SHIPS DOCK 

Though not owned by the municipal- 
ity or the State, there are two stone 
c dry docks at Hunters Point, San 
; Francisco, 493 and 750 feet long, re- 
[ spectively, equipped with fresh water, 
electric light, and compressed air, with 
facilities for docking the largest vessels 
i on the Pacific Ocean. In addition there 



are three floating docks at the foot of 
Sixteenth Street, 230, 271, and 301 feet 
in length, respectively. Recently nine 
of the largest battleships of the Atlantic 
fleet and three of the cruisers were put 
in dry dock after the long cruise from 
Hampton Roads. 

What is considered by the Bureau of 
Equipment of the Navy Department of 
the United States as the most important 
coal depot on the Pacific Coast is the 
Naval Coal Depot, at California City 
Point, on the bay shore of Marin county. 
The plant consists of a wharf 398 feet 
long and 50 feet wide, with 30 feet of 
water at mean low tide along the sea 
face. On the wharf is built a trestle of 
steel, carrying a track at an elevation of 
50 feet above mean low tide, upon which 
can travel a coal-hoisting tower. On 
shore is an elevated coal bunker of 10,- 
000 tons capacity, connected by a timber 
trestle with the wharf trestle. In addi- 
tion to the storage capacity of the 
bunker there can be stored outside of it 
on a concrete platform an additional 10,- 
000 to 15,000 tons according to storage 
depth. Coal is carried to and from stor- 
age by means of cable cars of four tons 
capacity. All handling of coal from col- 
liers into storage and from storage to 
barges or colliers is done by machinery. 

Plans are now afoot to supplement 
the present advantages of San Francisco 
harbor by the expenditure of $10,000,000 
for additional seawall and docks, which 
plans, when carried to completion, will 



place San Francisco in the forefront of 
the world's great shipping points, with 
facilities equaling those of any harbor 
in the world. 

Supplementing the harbor of San Fran- 
cisco is the land-locked harbor of Oak- 
land, where rail and water join, the shores 
of this harbor being the geographical 
terminal point for transcontinental rail- 
ways. Oakland's fifteen miles of water 
front present great opportunities for the 
manufacturer, who there can receive the 
raw m.aterial at one door and deliver the 
finished product through the other with 
but a single handling from one trans- 
portation line to the other. Brooklyn 
Basin, within this harbor of Oakland, 
has an area of more than three hundred 
acres. 

THE FUNNEL'S MOUTH 

With ten of California's great pro- 
ducing counties bordering on the bay, 
and with all the great interior country 
tributary to it, it may be likened to the 
mouth of a funnel through which are 
constantly pouring the riches of earth. 
Through this funnel there comes to San 
Francisco Bay, and thence to the mar- 
kets of earth, products to the value of 
$600,000,000 annually. This stream is 
growing with constantly accelerating in- 
crease, as the great State becomes more 
and more developed. 

What the ten counties touching San 
Francisco Bay represent in the com- 
merce of the bay can best be told in the 



following table, showing the agricultural 
and manufacturing output. These fig- 
ures, in most instances, are estimated on 
calculations made by experts, showing 
increases since the last official census 
was taken: 
County. Manufacturing. Agriculture. 

Alameda $ 68,435,352 $15,303,922 

Contra Costa 8,000,000 7,000,000 

Marin 2,500,000 

Napa 4,000,000 2,000,000 

Sacramento 4,000,000 10,000,000 

San Francisco 150,000,000 

San Mateo 2,500,000 1,000,000 

Santa Clara 8,000,000 14,415,000 

Solano 3,000,000 7,000,000 

Sonoma 3,500,000 9,000,000 

Totals $251,435,352 $68,218,922 

Grand total $319,654,274 

According to computations based on 
the last census of productions, the total 
value of productions of California fields, 
forests, mines and factories amounted to 
about $650,000,000 during the year 1907. 
This table shows that the counties bor- 
dering San Francisco Bay come within 
six million dollars of producing one-half 
of the total for the State. More than 
half of the $600,000,000 of the State's 
products which come to San Francisco 
Bay is sent by these ten counties and 
more than half of the State's population 
lives within the borders of this territory. 

A MAGIC CIRCLE 

Bringing this statement down to a 
closer circle, so far as the direct ship- 
ping business of the bay is concerned, 

10 



it is found that the counties of San 
Francisco, Alameda, Marin and Contra 
Costa are those to be considered in a 
computation and the table above shows 
that these four counties have a combined 
agricultural and manufacturing output 
valued at $251,239,274, or about three- 
fourths of the entire output of all of the 
counties touching the bay, and a little 
more than one-third of the entire produc- 
tion of the State. 

An examination of the map of the bay- 
will show that a circle drawn on a radius 
of fifteen miles of the City Hall of San 
Francisco will enclose all of this latter 
business. Within that circle will be all 
of San Francisco, Oakland, Alameda, 
Berkeley, Richmond, with the intermedi- 
ate towns on the Alameda County side 
of the bay. All of Marin County south 
of a line drawn just north of San Rafael, 
and all of San Mateo County north of a 
line drawn just south of the city of San 
Mateo. 

KEY TO THE PACIFIC 

This territory lies within what has 
long been called the "Gateway of the 
Pacific," but developments of the past 
few years have changed this to a more 
concrete idea, for with the building of 
the Panama canal, San Francisco Bay 
will be also the "key" to the Pacific. 
This point is well brought out in a pam- 
phlet published by Zoeth S. Eldredge, 
president of the National Bank of the 
Pacific, of San Francisco, under the 



title, 'The Key to the Pacific." In this 
he quotes the following from William 
Barclay Parsons, the eminent engineer 
and former member of the Isthmian 
Canal Commission : 

**The shortest distance between any 
two points on a sphere is by a 'great 
circle,' that is, a line cut on the surface 
of the sphere by a plane passing through 
the two points in question and the cen- 
ter of the sphere itself. The great circle 
connecting Panama with Japan and 
China or any point on the eastern Asi- 
atic coast passes through the Caribbean 
Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, Galveston, Den- 
ver, strikes the Pacific Coast of the 
United States north of Seattle, and 
skirts the Aleutian Islands. The navi- 
gator will keep his ship as close to the 
above route between the Isthmus and 
any port of the Far East as land per- 
mits. That is, after passing through the 
canal, he will first go south then north- 
west along the coast of Central America 
and Mexico, and, after clearing Cape St. 
Lucas, the southern end of Lower Cali- 
fornia, he will take the great circle from 
there to Asia, and this great circle will 
carry him about 1,700 miles to the east 
of Hawaii, and only 300 miles west of 
San Francisco. As the ordinary tramp 
freight steamer cannot, or will not wish 
to, carry coal to take her from the Isth- 
mus to Asia, she will have to stop at 
the most convenient intermediate point 
for coal and supplies. This point will 
be San Francisco, distant 3,277 miles 



from Panama and 4,536 miles from Yo- 
kohama; and in order to make such a 
call she will be lengthening her passage 
only 110 miles, or less than half a day 
in time over the shortest possible course 
in a total distance of 7,813 miles. The 
extraordinary result — one apparently not 
generally understood by the American 
public — is that San Francisco will be- 
come the 'key' and gateway of the Pa- 
cific, where all vessels going to the Far 
East, not only from the Atlantic sea- 
board, but Europe as well, will stop for 
coal and supplies. . . . At no place 
will the existence of the canal be more 
in evidence than at San Francisco, where 
a continuous procession of east and west 
bound steamers will be stopping daily. 
These steamers will make San Francisco 
a great competitive point for through 
freight shipments." 

Mr. Parsons says in conclusion that 
the "canal will bring the grain fields of 
the northwestern Pacific States 6,000 
miles nearer Liverpool, and it will bring 
the iron and coal of the Gulf States 
shipped from New Orleans and Pensa- 
cola 9,500 miles nearer San Francisco; 
giving to the former a new great market, 
not now open, and to the latter a cheap 
supply of raw materials of manufactur- 
ing." 

CHEAP FUEL 

In commenting on the above, Mr. Eld- 
redge says : "In writing of the advan- 
tages that will accrue to San Francisco 

13 




-S^'us 



Around San Francisco Bay: Inner circle showing territ^ 
of 50 miles of tlie City Hall. San Francisco. 




1^ ^c-Ti^,^ioi.Teo v.\i>. .„ 



Kt-onJ-i.;.-, vtisw 




^ain a radius of 15 mi[es and outer circle that within a radius 



in the way of manufactures, Mr. Parsons 
did not enter into the matter of oil pro- 
duction in California. California is the 
largest oil-producing State in the Union, 
and the product is far in excess of con- 
sumption. But the use of oil as a fuel 
is in its infancy. The statistics of the 
Agricultural Department give the use of 
petroleum as but 3 per cent of the total 
amount of fuel used. Its use for this 
purpose is being rapidly extended, and 
its excellence and cheapness make it 
most desirable for all manufacturing 
plants, locomotives, steamships, etc. The 
Orient is a large importer of cotton and 
cotton goods, mineral oils, manufactures 
of iron and steel, flour and meats. The 
import of cotton goods alone amounts 
to tv^o hundred and fifty millions a year. 
There is no reason why San Francisco, 
with its location and cheap fuel, should 
not become a great manufacturing cen- 
ter." 

Cheap power lies also in the numerous 
mountain streams of the Sierras, which 
can be utilized for the generation of 
electricity to an extent that almost ex- 
ceeds comprehension. It has been esti- 
mated that the proper conservation of 
the hydro-electric power of California's 
mountain streams would make sufficient 
force to drive all of the engines of the 
world. With a centering of this power 
about San Francisco Bay, there will 
come an additional incentive for the 
location of factories. There are now 
2,857 factories located in this district, 

16 



and many times this number can be lo- 
cated and find business. 

Through the pipe lines terminating on 
the Contra Costa and Alameda County- 
shores of the bay, hundreds of millions 
of gallons of crude petroleum are brought 
annually to refineries and to ships, to be 
carried to all parts of the world. The 
fields whence comes this oil are second 
in extent only to those of the Baku dis- 
trict of Russia, and are the largest fields 
in the United States, furnishing what 
practically may be considered an inex- 
haustible source of cheap fuel. 

FERRY SYSTEMS 

The seven passenger ferry lines which 
traverse the bay, affording communica- 
tion between the various counties bor- 
dering thereon, transport an average of 
more than one hundred thousand per- 
sons every day, and this service is now 
considered so inadequate for the business 
that a bridge is being built across the 
bay for the purpose of relieving the con- 
gestion of the boats. The completion of 
this bridge, at Dumbarton Point, will 
bring transcontinental trains directly into 
San Francisco, saving the ferriage both 
across Carquinez Straits and from Oak- 
land. It is estimated that more than 
fifty thousand people cross the bay every 
<^^y> goirig to their business and return- 
ing to their homes. This vast number 
of "commuters" is accommodated by a 
twenty-minute service on each of the 
three transbay lines, and an hourly serv- 

17 



ice on the others. In addition to these, 
it is estimated that between fifteen and 
twenty thousand people living on the 
peninsula side reach San Francisco every 
day on local trains 

NETWORK OF RAIL 

Covering this territory is a network 
of steam and electric railroads, with rapid 
suburban trains, carrying these thou- 
sands of people to and from their homes 
and places of business. Reaching out 
to the northwest, through Marin County, 
are the steam and electric lines of the 
Northwestern Pacific, connecting with 
San Francisco by two lines of ferry 
boats. At Point Richmond in Contra 
Costa County the Santa Fe is connected 
with the city by a ferry line, and its 
trains traverse the fertile valleys tribu- 
tary to the bay. The Key Route system, 
with its rapid transit ferry and network 
of electric roads in Oakland and Berke- 
ley, and the Southern Pacific, with three 
ferry lines and suburban trains travers- 
ing all of the cities on the eastern shore, 
give accommodation to the great bulk 
of the transbay traffic, while the Western 
Pacific will soon have its road, with sup- 
plementary ferry, completed, adding its 
quota to the traffic system of the bay re- 
gion on that side. Reaching down the 
peninsula from San Francisco is the 
coast line of the Southern Pacific, with 
dozens of suburban trains running as far 



as San Jose, fifty miles to the south, 
through a rapidly building up territory, 
while the Ocean Shore Railroad is run- 
ning its suburban trains twenty-eight 
miles to Farallone City, and is opening 
up a new territory for the suburban 
dweller, and developing one of the scenic 
districts tributary to the bay. 

In connection with this network of 
suburban railways now in operation, the 
Western Pacific will soon have its trains 
running and its ferries in operation, and 
the projected line to Lake County, an 
electric system with terminal facilities 
on the Marin peninsula, and an additional 
transbay ferry system, will bring an un- 
developed territory tributary to the bay 
region and open a new scenic country 
to those who desire change from old 
fields. 

DRAWING POPULATION 

This vast network of suburban rail- 
ways warrants the statement that the 
adjacent territory will soon be populated 
by fully as many people as now dwell 
in the cities on the shores of the bay, 
and within a short period more than a 
million people will find their homes 
within the circle of fifteen miles radius 
with the City Hall of San Francisco as 
the center. So pressing has this sub- 
urban population become on the rail- 
roads, that arrangements are now under 
way to electrolize much of the Southern 
Pacific's Alameda and Oakland system, in 

19 



order that better facilities for rapid 
transit may be had. In San Francisco 
the United Railroads, with the Califor- 
nia Street Railway, the Presidio and 
Ferries line, and the Park and Ocean, or, 
as it is better known, the Geary Street 
line, carry tens of thousands of passen- 
gers every day to and from outlying 
points to the business districts. But 
with all these methods of rapid transit, 
it is found that the systems are inade- 
quate to meet the increasing demands of 
a rapidly growing population, and rail- 
way officials and municipal authorities 
are trying to solve the problem of caring 
for the future transportation of the urban 
and suburban population about San 
Francisco Bay. 

Conservative estimates of the present 
population within a radius of fifteen 
miles of the City Hall of San Francisco 
place the figure at a grand total of 850,- 
000. This population is increasing with 
an accelerating ratio, and a remarkable 
demonstration of this increase was shown 
by the compilations of The California 
Promotion Committee eighteen months 
after the great fire sent a vast majority 
of the people away from San Francisco. 
In the eighteen months following the 
disaster the total population in the four 
cities of San Francisco, Oakland, Berke- 
ley and Alameda increased 75,000 over 
the number in those cities at the begin- 
ning of 1906, conclusively disproving the 

20 



assertion that the increase in the trans- 
bay cities came from San Francisco. 

PARK SYSTEM 

In all the cities about San Francisco 
Bay the necessity for open-air breathing 
spots has been recognized, and there is 
a magnificent park system, culminating 
in Golden Gate Park, one of the largest 
and finest artificial parks in the country. 
In addition to this park system there is 
on Mount Tamalpais the most magnifi- 
cent natural park in the world, compris- 
ing 12,000 acres of primal forest, canyon 
and cliflf, with such scenic views as are 
to be found in but few places in the 
world. This mountain with its surround- 
ing country looks down upon all the bay 
region, and forms a part of the artistic 
effect of the littoral. This park effect 
is continued on the Berkeley and Pied- 
mont hills, making the bay region the 
ideal center for homes, as well as for 
business enterprise. 

IDEAL LOCATION 

Not only in the appealing qualities of 
the climate of the bay region lies the 
fact that this is an ideal location for the 
home, but in addition to the endowments 
of Nature, man has combined here those 
institutions which are necessary for the 
welfare of the home. At Berkeley, amid 
such luxuriance of semi-tropical foliage 
as reminds one of scenes in southern 
lands, is the great University of Califor- 
nia, one of the famed educational insti- 



tutions of the nation, while at Palo Alto, 
but a few miles away down the penin- 
sula, is the Leland Stanford, Jr., Univer- 
sity, the most beneficently endowed in- 
stitution of learning in the world. These 
are the top of the great educational facili- 
ties of the public school system of the 
bay region, bringing within reach of all 
every grade from the lowest primary to 
the highest collegiate course. 

SPLENDID BUSINESS 

But it is as a business element that the 
bay region excites most interest. With 
all the vast shipping, commerce, manu- 
facture, and other production, this re- 
gion commands the respect of the world 
as a business center. With a combined 
banking capital of more than forty mil- 
lion dollars, the people of the region 
have on constant deposit in the banks 
nearly three hundred million dollars, 
more than two hundred and eighty mil- 
lions of which are in the banks of San 
Francisco and Oakland. What this busi- 
ness amounts to is shown by the trans- 
actions of the clearing houses of the two 
cities, as the clearings are generally ac- 
cepted in the financial and commercial 
world as the best indication of the busi- 
ness of a community. The combined 
clearings of San Francisco and Oakland, 
the two cities having clearing houses in 
the district, for the year 1907 amounted 
to $2,271,563,833, this being a total of 
$41,550,270 more than the combined 
clearings of all the other cities on the 



Pacific Coast. These enormous bank 
deposits and vast clearing transactions 
are the product of a territory of less 
than two thousand square miles in ex- 
tent, with an assessed valuation of all 
property of $672,480,462. 

The seagoing commerce of the bay 
region, which is rapidly increasing with 
each succeeding year, now amounts to 
more than $100,000,000 in value a year. 
All the islands of the Pacific, all the na- 
tions of the Orient, and all the coast of 
the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to the 
southernmost point is tributary to the 
business of San Francisco Bay, and are 
all supplied with merchandise by the 
business men who have their headquar- 
ters on its shores. 

MILITARY DEPOT 

When San Francisco Bay was discov- 
ered and occupied by the Spanish, the 
point of land reaching down to form the 
southern lintel of the Golden Gate was 
occupied as a strategic military point, 
and from that day to the present it has 
resounded to the tread of armed men. 
The Government has here its greatest de- 
pot for troops and supplies, and from 
this point go the soldiery and the mer- 
chandise to supply all of the posts of 
our possessions on the Pacific in all direc- 
tions. Six great transport ships sail reg- 
ularly from San Francisco Bay, carrying 
these troops and supplies, and during the 
year 1907 they carried a total of 22,842 
tons of merchandise and 1,485 officers 

23 



and 21,279 enlisted men. Adjoining this 
military reservation at the Presidio of 
San Francisco is the location of the im- 
mense warehouses of the Quartermaster's 
Department, where thousands of tons of 
merchandise are stored for use of the 
army. 

THE NAVY YARD 

Under the supervision of the construct- 
hig quartermaster, the War Department 
is making many improvements at the 
various forts and at the Presidio. At 
Fort Mason woilc will soon begin on the 
sea wall and transport wharves and 
sheds, as well as other buildings for the 
supply depot. Storehouses are being 
erected at Fort Baker and at Fort Mc- 
Dowell, Angel Island. Improvements 
and additions are being made to the 
Army General Hospital at the Presidio. 
Contracts have been let for a new sea 
wall and for road repairs between old 
Fort Winfield Scott and the new torpedo 
wharf. On Point Lobos Creek, on the 
Presidio reservation, a pumping station 
and reservoir, etc., are to be built. Plans 
are maturing for other improvements. 

Thirty miles from the docks of San 
Francisco, sheltered behind Mare Island, 
is the greatest Navy Yard of the Pacific, 
where thousands of men are constantly 
at work building and repairing the ships 
of the Government, and where are stored 
thousands of tons of ammunition and 
supplies for the navy vessels on the Pa- 
cific Ocean. Here was assembled the 

24 



vast amount of food and other supplies 
for the great fleet which entered San 
Francisco Bay May 6, 1908, after its 
memorable cruise around the continent 
from New York, and here is a capacity 
sufficient to meet any demand that may 
be made upon it even during stress of 
war. 

It is impossible in a pamphlet of the 
size of this to go into the detail of all 
of the magnificent possibilities of the 
San Francisco Bay region, or even to 
more than touch upon what is being 
done. Here is the site whereon will one 
day sit the greatest city of the continent. 
All of the advantages, environments and 
possibilities are here, and when the great 
empire which lies back of the bay, and 
which constantly pours its products of 
forest, field and mine out through the 
funnel of the Golden Gate, shall reach 
that development predestined for it, the 
shores of San Francisco Bay will pre- 
sent one vast hive of human industry, 
and every throb of this industrial heart 
will send its impulses across the waves 
of the Pacific until they meet response 
from every land, and bring returns from 
every shore. 

AN INLAND SBA 

San Francisco Bay is a great inland 
sea that of itself and in itself holds an 
individual commerce equal to that of 
many of the nations of earth, and this 
commerce is strengthened and increased 
by the ever-increasing population which 



is settling on its shores, with interde- 
pendent interests, and with community 
of purpose. There is no other such bay 
in the world, and nowhere else could 
there be such a spectacle, with such gor- 
geous and magnificent setting, as that 
afforded when the great fleet of forty 
odd warships sailed silently through the 
Gate to its anchorage. 

The mercantile spectacle of hundreds 
of ships sailing in and out of the bay 
to all parts of the world has become so 
familiar to the people that it no longer 
excites comment, but that spectacle is of 
more import to the future of San Fran- 
cisco Bay region than the marine pa- 
geant which brought to our gates the 
great navy. 

The following tables will give an idea 
of the enormous business that is carried 
on in the territory about San Francisco 
Bay: 

Banking Business. 

City. Capital. Deposits. 

San Francisco $38,275,307 $242,027,602 

Oakland 3,445,100 38,561,051 

Berkeley 750,000 6,450,000 

Alameda 300,000 3,108.516 

San Rafael 250,000 1,107,399 

San Mateo 75,000 626,133 

Richmond 55,000 269.854 

Outside banks 50,000 200,000 

Total. $43,200,407 $292,350,555 

26 



Area and Property Value. 

Assessed 
County. Square Miles. Value. 

San Francisco 40 $429,866,609 

Alameda 840 176,817,591 

Contra Costa 877 27,122,288 

Marin 516 15,125,334 

San Mateo 477 23,548,640 

Total 3,750 $672,480,462 

Railway Transportation. 

Miles Miles 

County. Steam Ry. Electric Ry. 

San Francisco 103 250.70 

Alameda 134.74 158 

Contra Costa 141.33 15 

Marin 102.42 16.02 

San Mateo 25.10 14 

Total 508.59 453.72 

Miscellaneous. 

Total factories 2,857 

Seagoing commerce, annual $ 100,000,000 

Manufacturing output 251,135,352 

Agricultural output 68,205,747 

Combined clearings 2,271,573,833 

Total population 900,000 

Merchandise shipped on transports 

(tons) 22,842 



27 



®I|i? daltfontta ^^rnmotwit (HammltUt 



ADVISORY COMMITTEE 

James N. Gillett 
Governor of California 

Warren R. Porter 
Lieutenant-Governor and President State Senate 

W. H. Beatty 
Chief Justice Supreme Court 

Benjamin Ide Wheeler President University of California 

David Starr Jordan. .President Leland Stanford Jr. University 

Luther Burbank Santa Rosa 

W. G. K-ERCKhoff Los Angreles 

William E. Smythe. San Diego... Counties South of Tehachapi 
M.\rsh.\ll DiGGS, Sacramento Sacramento Valley Counties 

F. M. Smith. Oakland San Francisco Bay Counties 

P. L Lancaster. Willits North of Bay Counties 

Return Roberts, Madera San Joaquin Valley Counties 

C. P. SouLE. Eureka North Coast Counties 

Ellwood Copper. Santa Barbara South Coast Counties 

Victor A. Scheller. San Jose Central Coast Counties 

Elias Squires. Gihsonville Sierra Counties 

Nathaniel Ellery State Engineer 

Lewis E. Aubury State Mineralogist 

J. W. Jeffery State Horticultural Commissioner 

G. B. Lull State Forester 

Charles S. Fee Pass. Traffic Mgr. Southern Pacific Co. 

W. A. BissELL Asst. Traffic Mgr. A. T. and S. F. Ry. Sys. 

W. J. Shotwell Traffic Agt. Western Pacific Railway Co. 

T. C. Peck Gen. Pass. Agt. S. P.. L. A. and S. L. R. R. Co. 

J.J. Geary Gen. Pass. Agt. Northwestern Pacific R. R. 

S. H. Smith Gen. Pass. Agt. Sierra Railway Co. 

E. T. Ch.\rlton Traffic Mgr. Ocean Shore Railway Co. 

A. G. D. KERRELL...Gen. Pass. Agt. Pacific Mail Steamship Co. 

L. F. Cockroft Gen. Pass. Agt. Oceanic Steamship Co. 

C. D. DuNANN Gen. Pass. Agt. Pacific Coast Steamship Co. 



HAND BOOK SERIES 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




021 929 710 5 % 



AROUND 

SAN FRANCISCO 

BAY 



THE CALIFORNIA PROMOTION COMMITTEE 

THE STATE CENTRAL ORGANIZATION 

CALIFORNIA BUILDING, UNION SQUARE 

SAN FRANCISCO 

1908 



